Chuck Lorre, James Burrows, Ted Danson Pay Tribute to Bob Broder

Bob Broder was allergic to small talk. In his heyday as one of the industry’s top literary agents, he was known as “Darth Broder.” He loved to ski. He loved to play poker, make fig jam and smoke cigars. And he loved his family and his golden retrievers with all his heart.

That is how Broder was remembered Saturday at a memorial service held at the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot, where he spent the last dozen years of his career as the business chief of Chuck Lorre Productions. Broder died Sept. 23 at the age of 85. The gathering of several hundred people reflected a who’s who of executives and leaders across the industry as well as longtime friends and family. More than a few rival agents came to pay their respects.

Lorre, the prolific showrunner and co-creator of “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Dharma & Greg” and a host of other shows, followed the powerful opening eulogy delivered by Rabbi Steven Z. Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. With so many comedy writers on the bill, the Broder tribute was no somber affair. It was also full of revealing personal details about a man who was never accused of over-sharing. (Who knew Bob Broder managed snack bars on the beach in Santa Monica while he was in law school at UCLA?). As James Burrows, another longtime client observed, “He knew about the money; I knew about the funny.”

In addition to Lorre and Burrows, the other speakers were: Norman Kurland, his longtime business partner at the Broder Kurland agency; younger siblings Madelynn Broder Kopple and Bill Broder; Chris Silbermann of CAA, who reflected the generation of now-senior agents who learned the ropes at Broder Kurland; Eddie Gorodetsky, a writer-producer long associated with Lorre and cigar buddy of Broder; Revata Bowers, former head of UCLA’s Center for Early Education, where Broder served as a trustee and board president; Tom Hoberman, a top entertainment lawyer and longtime friend; and, in closing, the “Cheers” trio of series co-creators Glen Charles and Les Charles, who were longtime Broder clients, and star Ted Danson.

Here is Chuck Lorre’s tribute to Broder in full. His opening line got one of the biggest responses in a memorial full of laughs, because it was so true. “Bob would have gotten me out of this,” he deadpanned.

My name is Chuck Lorre. Bob Broder, aka Darth Boder, was my agent for 25 years, my business partner for 12 and my friend for oh gosh, I gotta say six, seven months…not in a row. Bob liked to tell people that he worked for me, but we both know that wasn’t true. Broder worked for me the same way a zookeeper works for the monkeys.

Those of you who know me know I’m somewhat emotional in my behavior, and let’s say anger is my sweet spot, righteous indignation my happy place. And I think we can all agree that Bob Broder was none of those things. He was always calm, judicious, analytical, not to mention ferociously smart. As a result, every time we disagreed on something which happened a lot, I was wrong. I was wrong so often it got to where I knew I was wrong as the words were coming out of my mouth, I could look at Bob and actually see him trying to not roll his eyes. To make matters worse, he’d always let me spin out ranting and raving about some high-class injustice I was forced to suffer, like when we negotiated a new overall deal with Warner Bros. He waited till I was done spewing then slowly and patiently explained why it was wrong for me to call overhead of distribution charges the skim.

One of my fondest memories, I flipped out over profit participation statement. He tried to calm me down by explaining how Warner Bros. and Fox and Disney basically all the production companies played a game called Legally Steal Money from your partners and how it wasn’t his job to stop the game. It was his job to limit the grift to an acceptable number. Or, as he so succinctly put it, Chuck. They’re gonna fuck you. I’m just gonna make sure they bring some lube. His words, not mine.

I still argue with Bob, only now the arguments are in here [points to his head], and the results are the same. I’m still wrong. That’s OK. Instead of getting upset, I’ve learned to pause to breathe and ask myself, What would Broder do? And you know what he tells me? In fact, he has been telling me for 25 years, not by lecturing or being pedantic, but by the way he behaved, the way he carried himself, the way he treated people in business. In town dominated by egos he seemingly had none. He always was the grown up in the room which created a safe space for the children. And by children I mean me, and if he smoked enough pot, Jimmy Burrows, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It was right there.

Bob was beloved by all who knew him. He was a wildly successful literary agent, good father, loving husband, trusted friend, tough but fair production executive, great skier and a world class poker player. The only thing he couldn’t do is chit-chat. If, after completing the business of a phone call, I said, “Hey, did you see that episode of ‘Succession’ last night?” His response would be, ‘Goodbye.’ If I felt the need to chit chat, I had to call Peter Roth.

I was recently asked by somebody if I plan to replace Bob as the head of my company. My answer was, why would I do that? He’s here and he’s here [points to head and heart]. Thank you.